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Monday, October 20, 2014

Do you remember back at the beginning of the year when I started the Rainbow Pansy blanket for C? And do you remember how I said I wasn't a big project type. Turns out I was right. I made four spiral squares and a number of the pansy squares, then they sat there for months. C found them and asked what about my blanket? What to do? A trip to the fabric store later, here was my solution. Rainbow Pillow!

I joined the four squares I had making a 24 in by 24 in square and put a little border around it. Then I cut a square of fabric and zipped around it with my perforating rotatory blade and crochet fabric the the back of the squares on three sides. I stuffed in a 24 by 24 in pillow and closed up the other side. I went around the border one more time and viola!

C picked out the rainbow butterflies. Of course there was fighting over it with the younger one, so back to the store for another pillow. Since I didn't feel up to making squares for one of the sides I just crocheted two pieces of fabric together and added a border again. Why not just sew it you ask? Well my machine is packed away and old. This was actually easier. So W got a construction pillow.

They are hits and have saved my couch pillows from being floor jumping pillows. The kids have also come up with other creative using for them, one being holding the pillows in front of them and running at each other as fast as their little legs can go.

I know I didn't really put in details, but this was more just a idea post. If you want details let me know.

Sunday, October 19, 2014

In the past few months I have made a number of dolls for my kids or other family members. I've been tweaking the pattern each time, but I think I've come up with a good pattern for a person now. I'm writing the pattern without any color changes for clothes, though I will make a note in the row where clothes might be started if desired.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

I meant to get this little gal up yesterday for the first day of October, but I was having a lazy day and didn't feel like typing.
Anyway, Happy October! Are you getting ready for Halloween yet? Well if you are here is a little cheery witch to help you along. She is the same size as my Little Scarecrow and made pretty much the same way. I've added a few accessories with her for a little more fun.

Before sewing the hat on the head I added a little bit of hair. I used a hair tutorial from EssHaych. It is the same method I used for the adding the hay around the Little Scarecrow. I left the top round bare since the hat will cover that part of the head.

Once you have the hair on, sew the hat to the head. I lightly stuffed it to give it some stiffness.

Add a face and there you go, a little witch to help celebrate the holiday season.

This pattern is for personal use only. If you would like to sell a
finished product, please credit me for the design. Happy Stitches!

Monday, September 1, 2014

My favorite season is autumn. I love the cooler weather. I love the colors. And I love the decorations. I'm celebrating the first day of September (even though it is in no way cool here) by sharing my new favorite crochet project. Here is a cute little scarecrow to decorate your table or shelf.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

We have been having a fairly mild summer this year, maybe that is why I'm already making things for the fall. And what goes better with fall than cowls? I have been seeing a lot of lovely, lightweight cowls and thought since it still is summer, maybe I could try something like that. I found a stitch called the ladder stitch which I thought would work. The result was a airy cowl that will add a little something to that comfy tee we all like to wear.

Best thing about this...it is SO simple. It is just a repeat of chains and single crochets done in continuous rounds. Even a miscount here or there won't matter. This pattern works great with yarns with long color changes. This cowl can be made longer or shorter very easily, just change the
number of chains in the foundation, keeping it a multiple of six. As
written the cowl will measure approx. 60 inches in circumference.

Materials
Worsted weight yarn, about 180 yards - I used Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Dragonfly
(which I feel is less worsted and more DK weight)
Hook J (6.00mm)

Notes: worked in continuous rounds. Just keep going in a spiral. Easy peasy!

ch 240R1 - sc in the beginning ch, creating a circle, ch 3, sc in same st, *ch 5, sk 5, sc, ch 3, sc in same st, repeat from * until you have 5 ch left (or if you miscounted somewhere about 5), ch 5 and sc in to first 3ch loop

Saturday, July 19, 2014

I decided to finally make something for myself. I have a dress that I love. It's a nice causal dress, but can also be dressed up. I wanted to wear a belt with it, but it like and ones I had. I needed something a little lighter, more delicate looking. I got a new crochet stitch book awhile back and found this shell stitch that I've been wanting to use for something. So why not a belt?

First, here is the basic pattern. Then I'll go into how I made the belt.

ch a multiple of 12 + 1, plus 3 for the foundation chainR1 - 2dc in 4th ch from hook, *sk 2, sc in next ch, ch 5, sk 5, sc in next ch, sk 2, 5dc in next ch* repeat to end, working 3dc in last ch, turnR2 - ch 1, sc in first dc, *ch 5, sc in next ch 5 arch, ch 5, sc in 3rd dc of cluster* repeat to end, sc in 3rd ch of ch 3, turnR3 - *ch 5, sc in next ch 5 arch, 5dc in sc, sc in next arch* repeat to last arch, ch 2, dc in last sc, turnR4 - ch 1, sc in first dc, *ch 5, sc in 3rd dc of cluster, ch 5, sc in next arch* repeat to end, turnR5 - ch 3 (counts as first dc), 2dc in first sc, * sc in next arch, ch 5, sc in next arch, 5dc in sc* repeat to end, working 3dc in last sc, turnRepeat R2-5 until desired width/height. You can stop at any row. If you want some symmetry at top and bottom it is best to stop after a row of only arches, so R2 or R4

Now, what I did with this pattern.

I knew I wanted my shells to be stacked up which meant I needed a long chain to start. But how to know how long? So first I made a little sample swatch of 24 + 1 (start chain of 28) and stitched the first 5 rows.

Then I measured it. Mine was 2.5 inches. Next I measured my waist where I wanted to wear the belt, about 28 inches. Make sure to measure over your clothes since that's how you wear your belt. Now pick up your calculator or pull out your higher math skills. 28/2.5 = 11.2. That's how many chains of 24 you need. So I rounded down to 11 to account for space for the clasp. 11 x 24 = 264. Remember add 4 more for the foundation chain. Also remember that you need a multiple of 12. Substitute your numbers in.

So after all that I started with a chain of 268. I placed a marker every 48 stitches to help me keep track. This also helped with R1 in making sure I didn't miss count (you should end sets of 12 with a 5dc cluster). Have you ever got to the end of your first row of a long chain and realized something went wrong somewhere along the way? Then you have to unravel. Ugh.

Follow the pattern from here. I did a total of 12 rows. It gave the belt a width of a little over 2.5 inches.

Now for the clasp. This is something you can personalize. I choose to do a large hook and eye. I ended up making my own using 16 gauge copper wire. I made a version of a design I found at Art Bead Scene. It was my first attempt at using wire so it isn't perfect but I like it.

I attached it to the ends with crochet thread in the middle and around the second loop on each end.

And ta-da, a belt.

It ended up a little big since the clasp made a bigger gap between the ends than I accounted for. I originally was going for a type of clasp that would have had the ends touching but couldn't find what I had in mind. I do like how this one turned out though.

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About Me

Hi, I'm Molly. I stay at home with my three children and love it. But a while back I found myself going slightly crazy with the insanity my children bring. I needed an outlet. When my daughter was born I taught myself to crochet, I didn't stick with it. So I decided to find my hooks and yarn and try again. I found my outlet. I'm learning and experimenting and continually finding new things I want to try.

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Hey All, I do have a printer friendly button that is at the very bottom of all my posts. If you click the button, you can choose to print it or download to a PDF. There is also the option to delete portions of the text (in case you don't want my ramblings) or the images.